bookmark_borderLife continues

New tattoo, sprained ankle, and a desire to write more.

But aside from that, not much else in my head. Nothing ready to fall out here at least.

Off to my cousin’s wedding on Friday, sunny Birmingham for some fun with friends at the weekend and on Monday I’m hoping to try the award winning Meathead Ltd burger. My boss is over from the US of A, so hoping to treat him to some of the better places in Glasgow. Dining at Urban on Thursday with the team, and then on Monday I’ll drag him to Oran Mor, Nice and Sleazy, and then to the Horseshoe Bar, finishing at Blackfriars.

A mini-tour of some of the more down to earth pubs in Glasgow should about do it.

It’s funny, for all the times I eat out in Glasgow, I don’t really blog about it that much. Have I mentioned the Hanoi Bike Shop for example? or Pinto? The Hyndland Cafe?

We are spoiled for choice. I do love my home city (more on that, later!).

bookmark_borderAlways with the music

For a while now I’ve been toying with attending a certain rather well known music festival. Highlights on TV are one thing but there isn’t anything quite like experiencing the atmosphere of these things first hand. This is also the reason that, unless there is an extremely good reason, ever attend a gig at the S.E.C.C. as it lacks one of the key components of live music, atmosphere.

I’ve pre-registered myself and will wait the day when tickets go on sale so i can, finally, haul my ass to Glastonbury.

I’m hoping that we’ll have sold the house by then!

Music is an important part of my life, always has been, and one thing I am already considering for when I move and get my own flat, is the location. How close to a reasonable gig venue is it?

I think of heading to the West of Glasgow, the West End preferably as that puts me within walking distance of Oran Mor and will offer me the opportunity to get some cheap (less than a tenner) tickets for gigs by people I might not have heard of. I may be romanticising slightly, of course, but I think it could be quite fun.

And when I go home, I’ll use my iPhone to turn on my Sonos sound system for even more music.

I don’t own it yet though, but I will. It’s crept up the list of “things I will need to buy when I move” and is very near the top, right after things like a bed, a microwave and maybe a sofa.

Mind you, given that I’ll be heading to Glastonbury, I should maybe leave a little room in my budget for a tent (or better still, leave a lot of room in my budget and do it in style!).

bookmark_borderThe joy of the lyric

So, I posted a photo from it but I wanted to mention the Emiliana Torrini gig I attend last week. The venue, Oran Mor, is quite small and intimate, occupying the top floor of an old church and holding maybe 400-500 people, tops. The stage wasn’t set very high and, upon taking to it, the diminutive Ms. Torrini admitted she was a bit taken aback that everyone was ‘right there’.

Musically she’s a tricky one to pigeonhole. Her Icelandic roots make the leap to Bjork a bit too obvious and she’s certainly more grounded in traditional songwriting arrangements than her Icelandic counterpart, but that’s not to say it’s all acoustic guitars and winsome melodies. Her last album covers such tracks as well as a reggae tinged number as well as bringing a pop sensibility to things. It makes it her most accessible album and probably accounts for the range of ages in the audience.

But it’s her turn of phrase that caught my ear when I first chanced upon one of her tracks, and allows me to suggest that she’s not far short of Mr.Garvey (Elbow) for a nicely visioned lyric.

A good gig then, an excellent venue that was small enough to be intimate, and a pretty slick set from the band. Her voice, whilst sounding quite delicate at times, can certainly hold it’s own against 5 and 6 piece band, and her desire to give the audience the background story to most of the songs was endearing.

Not sure how she’d fair at a larger venue and whilst I hope she continues to build her fanbase (she’s released three albums so far) part of me hopes she sticks to this size of venue as it seems perfectly suited to her sound.